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Issue link: https://medesthetics.epubxp.com/i/111786
ANTIAGING SKIN CARE source,��� says Craw. ���Our research with pluripotent stem cells goes beyond addressing skin care. In other areas of the company that are more medically oriented, we are also looking at other areas of the body. For example, we are studying creating brain cells that might be therapeutic in treating Parkinson���s and other neurological diseases.��� The company recently reported results from an unpublished laboratory study investigating how its proprietary stem cell extract (HSC-X) helps the skin repair itself. The experiment shows the restorative effects of HSC-X by looking at how human skin cells recover after a simple injury. It consists of two petri dishes with human skin cells growing on ���broblast conditioned media. One dish was used as a control. The other was treated with Lifeline���s HSC-X. Both samples were then ���wounded��� by running a sharp object down the middle of the media. Microscopic examination of the media 24 hours later showed a 92% higher concentration of ���broblasts in the treated dish compared to the untreated control. ���How we stabilize the active ingredients in a product is very important,��� says Craw. ���Many tend to degrade when exposed to outside elements. We ���nd that nanosphere liposomes of a particular type similar to the skin matrix create an effective delivery system.��� Personal Cell Sciences (personalcellsciences.com) took stem cell-based topical skin care one step further in 2012 with the introduction of U Autologous skincare products. Instead of using cells from just anyone, the company extracts stem cells from your own fat and uses them to create a face cream based on your own growth factors and cytokines mixed with other ingredients such as green tea extract, caffeine and vitamins. Patients pay $3,000 for the initial procedure, which includes frozen storage for a cache of mesenchymal stem cells grown from those harvested from the patient. In addition, patients will have to pay $400 to $800 for each bottle of cream they purchase. An unpublished split-face trial sponsored by the company used computer analysis of photos to assess the 19 participants. After eight weeks of use, the participants showed 15% to 85% improvement (an average of a 25.6%) in wrinkle depth, and 75% of the 10 women who had tissue biopsies showed increased levels of elastin. Trend 2: Human Growth Factors Some scientists have bypassed stem cells and concentrated instead on human growth factors to create cutting-edge 36 MARCH/APRIL 2013 | MedEsthetics skincare products. All human skin cells secrete one or more growth factors, which are responsible for wound healing and tissue regeneration, among other things. ���Some skincare formulations contain only one growth factor, while others contain multiple growth factors,��� says Frank Dreher, PhD, chief scienti���c of���cer, Neocutis (neocutis.com). SkinMedica and Neocutis are the only two companies that use a mixture of natural human growth factors in their products. SkinMedica pioneered the category with TNS Recovery Complex, which uses NouriCel-MD, a combination of more than 100 growth factors, cytokines and soluble matrix proteins derived from a process using cultured neonatal human dermal ���broblasts.��� In its Bio-Restorative Day Cream, Neocutis uses PSP (processed skin cell proteins), which is a fetal ���broblast cell lysate. Like NouriCel-MD, PSP is a mixture of more than 100 human growth factors, cytokines and other proteins. ���Growth factors play a key role in the regulation of many physiological processes,��� says Dreher. ���Together with cytokines, they are important regulators of cell division, differentiation, adhesion and cell survival.��� SkinMedica���s Mehta adds, ���The skin is a complex system that can be affected via many pathways. Growth factors, especially in combination, are critical to the rebuilding process, as are retinoids and antioxidants. It���s very dif���cult to study how one molecule affects the skin in clinical trials. It makes more sense to look at overall bene���ts of a formulation that works through multiple pathways.��� Both growth factor products have been tested in limited clinical trials. The most recent study of the TNS Recovery Complex was reported in the September 2008 issue of the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology. The double-blind, placebo controlled study included 60 subjects who used either the TNS Recovery Complex or a vehicle hydrogel twice a day for six months. Participants were assessed by the investigator at three and six months. �� ISTOCKPHOTO.COM ���Nanosphere liposomes of a particular type similar to the skin matrix create an effective delivery system.���